Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Cook

The reason Tiar and Bara had volunteered to help with the preparations for the feast, specifically with the cooking of all the food the liberators of Negite were going to consume, far wasn’t that either of them was a masterful cook. Their motives were altogether different.

After the two had finally managed to put a safe distance between themselves and all the other cooks on one of the streets leading to the destroyed central plaza, Tiar saw fit to finally reveal his true intentions to his apprentice. And as it usually happened, he began his explanation by means of actions rather than words.

Bara had just finished putting all the ingredients needed for the traditional stew in the region of the Southern Sovereignty Seven as instructed by some of the other cooks earlier in the big bronze-colored cauldron in front of her teacher, getting ready to start stirring the ingredients together when he stopped her. Their eyes met, Tiar taking the long-handled grayish-black ladle from her hands and into his own, the confused almeya sitting across from him.

‘Aren’t we going to start stirring now? There is a lot more food that needs to be cooked and with both of us being as inept at this as we are, it will take quite a while longer before …’

‘There’s one final ingredient we need to add. The most important one. It is because of that ingredient I wanted the two of us to cook alone.’

Any trace of confusion disappeared from Bara’s face then, the hammer-making lady becoming as serious as her teacher.

‘I figured you were planning something. So what’s this special ingredient you don’t want anyone to see you’re using?’

‘Haven’t you figured that out yet? Or maybe you’ve already figured it out, but were hoping you were wrong until now.’

The female almeya looked away from Tiar’s face, this action on her part only further confirming his own suspicions. Although they had not spent that long a time together, a bond had formed between them and that bond was already strong enough that they could guess quite well what the other was thinking without saying anything.

‘You don’t approve. Is that why you won’t answer me?’

Her eyes met his again, Tiar expecting to see reproach in them, but finding only confusion. This in turn confused him, but he wasn’t left wondering for long as Bara finally spoke.

‘I just don’t see why you have to share your power with everyone like this instead of how you did it with me.’

‘It was different with you, Bara. You were on the verge of death and also I couldn’t have ever imagined sharing my soul would awaken Order-related abilities in you when I did it. If I were to come across anyone else in a state as terrible as yours, I wouldn’t hesitate to share my soul with them directly, but for what I plan to do now such an approach would serve me poorly.’

‘Why? What is it you plan to do with this?’

‘Give Yut a fighting chance. And more than that … a chance of a future no one here has even dreamt of.’

Those words left Bara completely baffled, Tiar realizing he would need to fully elaborate on the plan he had thought up while the battle for Negite had still been raging.

‘It will be difficult for you to understand, but these abilities you and I have … they’re actually called devas. Before Yut advances enough technologically for scientific proof to be provided, its people will continue believing these devas are magic while in reality they’re something much more complex. But whatever we choose to call them, the fact remains that not a single sentient race in this dimension possesses a deva, such abilities only having been developed by some of the animals and the plants that live here.’

‘All the Chaos beasts have ma … devas, though. Why?’

‘None of them originally came from Yut. Their home is one of the main dimensions in the Chaos territories where devas are possessed by the majority of the inhabitants. That is true for most dimensions in the cosmos, actually.’

‘And yet the yuti don’t naturally possess such abilities? That’s not right! There must be a reason for this!!’

‘Whatever the reason, you’re correct in saying it’s not right. In the old age the peoples of Yut could rely on the help of the forces of Shiroi* or heaven as you call it and other Order dimensions to battle the threat of Chaos, but after Tiar and the Beast Divisions came, many Order champions were killed, the rest being imprisoned. And Heaven is engaged in wars on multiple fronts in the present, which means we cannot rely on them for assistance this time. It’s up to us.’

‘Then you coming here … maybe that’s the reason why you were sent in the first place? Because of this power you have to give others the ability to use devas as well?’

‘That I cannot say. No one has ever told me I have such a power, nor did I know it myself until you manifested a deva. There is still a possibility that you alone can develop such abilities after coming in contact with my soul, but if others can as well, it’s well worth the risk to try in my opinion. The weapons infused with Order devas left from ancient times like the ones the herkleri used earlier will not be enough to crush the Beast Divisions. Only one thing can truly counter their Chaos devas – Order devas. That is why I want to do this. To even the odds at least a little.’

‘Alright. That much I understand. But the reason for doing this in secret still eludes me. As well as what you plan to do with these devas after the possible defeat of the Chaos forces.’

Considering her persistence, Tiar could no longer afford to evade Bara’s questions about the secrecy of his actions as the more he did that, the more her suspicions would rise and it would eventually become impossible to hide the truth. And that truth was that it was all too certain once his true identity was revealed, no yuti would be able to accept their power comes not only from a former Distroya, but from the same one who had enslaved the entire dimension.

All the Viktar could do at this point was to use the explanation of his grand scheme for the future as reasoning for the stealth he was applying in the present and hope that would be enough to fool his student. She would after all definitely be shocked by that grand scheme and the role she was meant to play in it.

‘The reason I’m sharing my soul like this is to ensure everyone’s well-being in the future, Bara. I’m not simply trying to restore Yut to how it was before, but to help it enter an age of unparalleled prosperity. To do that, certain conditions will need to be met.’

‘And those conditions include to make everyone manifest powers out of nowhere and try to convince them that’s normal? Not to mention you probably plan to make me mix some of my flesh with the food as well?!’

‘I was only going to suggest that, but whether you choose to follow my example is entirely up to you. And also I never said I won’t give an explanation about the source of the powers the peoples of Yut will develop. I simply won’t tell them the truth about that source.’

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‘What lies are you going to feed them, then?’

‘The lies themselves are not as important as the reason behind them. Should this experiment prove successful, I believe the yuti will not simply develop the same energy deva as me, but a myriad of other abilities, depending on the hidden potential every individual carries within. Many of those abilities may be almost completely identical to what the Beast Divisions are using, differing only in terms of their Order nature compared to the enemies’ Chaos nature. That similarity is something I believe will not sit well with the yuti.’

‘From what I know about the peoples of my dimension and that’s precious little, I think you’re right. So you plan to change everyone’s perception of their abilities?’

‘If they’re resentful of their devas, they won’t be able to use them to their full extent and we will need that full extent if the Chaos threat is to be neutralized. Do you remember what I told Elgo and Osinth about your abilities earlier?’

‘That they are cosmic magic?’

‘Exactly. That is what I’ll say to the yuti their devas are once they manifest – magic coming from other planes of the cosmos that appears in the form of Order-related abilities here in Yut because it was originally a dimension of Order. I will say the reason for these abilities to manifest now is my arrival and the Order I bring with me, but that everyone has possessed this power all this time, meaning the ones chiefly responsible for the advent of devas are the yuti themselves. That way they will believe this magic is truly their own and will use it as such, holding nothing back.’ – he pointed at Bara when he was done with this part of the explanation, the pink-skinned beauty still mulling over the information she had been given – ‘And after that begins your part in the story as Yut’s first mage.’

‘Mage?’

‘Those capable of wielding magic will need to have a name so I’ve decided to call them mages. As you’re the first to have developed such abilities, you will be the first mage and the one to pass my teachings to all other mages that will follow. Namely, an entire system of color-based magic where different colors will stand for different types of magic. The purple color I gave your hammers from earlier is an example of that.’

‘And what type of magic will that be? Object creation?’

‘It’s not a bad option for a name, yes. And then there are the pink symbols I spread all over each one of the hammers you made. They will be part of a system of magirunes that are actually inspired from the writings of Order champions of old, those magirunes being able to strengthen different spells depending on the order and shape they’re written in.’

‘But those runes … the different colors … all of it … will simply be a front. A trick. Can such a thing increase the efficiency of deva usage?’

‘It can. I have seen it happen before, though not like this. This … will be more efficient than anything else. The more one believes in something, the more their faith fuels their deva, reaching greater and greater power through it. As long as everyone believes this system works, it will work. And the mages’ main role will be to support that belief.’

‘You mean to support the lie.’

His apprentice’s continuing refusal to embrace the greatness of the plan he had made now began to anger Tiar, forcing him to reveal some painful truths to her while knowing she was not ready to hear them.

‘You are too young to know this, my child, but truth isn’t what always matters most. Sometimes a lie can save many lives while a truth – destroy twice as many.’

‘So you’re saying truth isn’t what matters most to Order? Isn’t Order the main force that keeps the cosmos stable?’

‘It is, but I am sorry to tell you a great many lies have been spoken on behalf of that power and it is precisely lies like the ones we’re going to tell that maintain multidimensional stability even now.’

‘And if the truth about what you’re doing now is discovered?’

‘Such a thing must never happen, which is precisely what the mages will exist for. Their task will not simply be to give the yuti hope during the war, but to ensure such a war will never come again.’ – he paused for a moment in preparation to deliver the final part of his speech meant to convince Bara to help him, after that continuing with as much determination as a Viktar’s face could radiate – ‘After the great wars between angels and demons began in multiple dimensions, the angels guarding Yut left only lesser Order champions to defend it and in their absence not only the dimensions’ defences, but the peoples’ faith in Order weakened. Enough so to allow the hordes of Chaos to more easily conquer everything.

Introducing a new church based on the belief magic is the ultimate bond with God will strengthen everyone’s faith once again, but even more than before and with the mages serving as its apostles it will now rise to the most prominent position of influence all across Yut, more so than even the monarchs ruling each world. As long as that faith is kept intact, this dimension will be safe.

And this is one of the many examples where stability is maintained through lying rather than through honesty. So tell me, Bara, do you know of any single truth that could protect Yut better than my lies?’

This time around Bara didn’t have neither an answer, not another question to ask. After waiting for about a minute for some kind of response from her, Tiar enveloped his hand in a mixture of dark blue and white energy, the energy being sucked into one point on his palm, that area of the skin and some of the muscles under it being cut off by the cross-sword that was the Viktar’s other hand. He grinded the piece of flesh to dust by squeezing it with his fist, looking at his apprentice again before adding that dust to the cauldron full of stew.

‘May I proceed?’

 ‘I have trusted you and you haven’t failed me so far. The people of Negite trusted you and you saved their city. I think if there is anyone I would trust with Yut’s future, it would be you. So whatever path you choose, I will follow it with you. To the end.’

‘Thank you, Bara. Let us both pray this is the right path. As it will be far too difficult and dangerous to undo what will follow.’

No more than a few moments after the Order champion had added his flesh to the stew and had started stirring it, several of the other almeya cooks came to him and Bara. Thankfully their arrival had been late enough for none of them to notice what had been done to the food. That alone was not sufficient to put Tiar’s mind at ease, however, because all the cooks had a very worried look on their faces.

‘My lord Arit, lady Bara, please come with us! Many almeyas have just arrived from the Negite prison bringing the most terrible news! Prince Elgo has convened a war council and requests your presence!!’

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